Saturday, August 27, 2011

So, yesterday was an ode to my father. Today is an ode to the most important man in my life, my fiance, Jeff. We've been together six years now. We've been through all kinds of things and through some really rough patches.

One of the things we both deal with is that we are both bipolar. Neither of us are on meds as the meds have caused more issues in both of our cases. It's spiraled me into depression and killed my creativity while Jeff felt disconnected from the world and as though he wasn't really functioning.

We're both blessed that we get that about one another.

Recently we went through a really rough patch when I sailed off into a manic phase for months. I was hard to deal with. I had little in the way of an attention span and he went through hell. His understanding helped me through and helped me reground myself. He and my best friend helped me re-find my coping mechanism of art. That's what this place is.

Jeff encourages my creativity and I've been very lucky that not only does he encourage it, he also revels in it. He enjoys what I do and he enjoys just even sitting with me while I create. He's my muse.

A lot of these pages are very cathartic. It's interesting to see how the mixed media and gluing approach is likely one of the healthiest things I can do for myself.

I know that my mom's partner when I was in high school used to do this, but hers was a lot of magazine photos that she glued in and then wrote on. I got alphabet stamps today from Michael's and now I am seeing more words added to mine.

Friday, August 26, 2011

I have an interesting relationship with my father. He came into my life in my 20s. He was unaware I was his daughter and I was unaware he was my father. By the time we started to get to know one another, I was well past the age where he had a lot of influence. He's very traditional. I'm very not. He's a wonderful man and accepts me for who I am.

Welcome

This is a place for me to post my musings and my creative adventures. This place also is likely to involve tea somehow as, oddly, tea seems to creep into so much of my life.

It's also likely to become a dumping ground for photos of works in progress or hauls from arts & crafts stores.

Please keep in mind that I am a jane-of-all-trades-master-of-none, so I won't be turning out any art or craft at a level anywhere near professional. I am a hobbyist and far from a perfectionist. However, I am prolific in my creativity.

About Me

Introductions are a sticking point for me. I don't do well at talking about myself in these. I suppose I will give you my warnings first. I post a lot to g+ and not a lot to blogger. I get more interaction on g+ so it holds my attention more. If you are circling me, you might want to put me in a circle where you can lower the number of my posts that appear as I do post a lot. On the plus side, if I have circled you, I tend to be rather interactive. On another note, sometimes what I post borders on NSFW. I do self portraits with cleavage occassionally and there is a post someplace where my fat chick tummy shows. I am also rather opinionated and can get a bit mouthy, so that can be a bit much for work filters.

So, now that the warning is out of the way, I will tell you about what stuff I tend to post.

I do a lot of art. I'm not particularly good, but I am working on it and more importantly I enjoy creating art. It helps keep me emotionally even keeled in my life.

I take a lot of photos. I like to document the little things I see around me and I take a lot of self portraits. I'm not a pro, it's really about the artistic nature of shots. Someday I will grow up and maybe eve n be a real photographer.

I chatter a lot about my life. Surviving my current depression and still managing to leave the house for more than my job is sometimes a struggle. I talk about it unabashedly. I battle rapid cycling bipolarity. I also battle food issues and self injury. I am on a self discovery adventure this year. I am trying to clean my life of both bad habits and physical items I don't need that just clutter me up. I write a lot about that, too.